Man handed life term for rape & murder of adopted daughter (5)

GHAZIABAD: A Pocso court on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old man to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl he had adopted.
The crime took place in March this year. The convict's wife had adopted the child from a relative a month ago. His accomplice, Neeraj Kumar, was also convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.
 

Special public prosecutor Utkarsh Vats said a woman, Saroj, had filed a police complaint at Tila Mod police station on March 12.
“The woman said her brother’s daughter was adopted by a relative, Ajay Bhati, one month ago. However, she went missing on March 11. The family members launched a search and found her body in a bush on March 12,” she stated in her complaint.

She further said Bhati’s wife had adopted the girl.
“However, Bhati was not happy with this move. He used to thrash the girl,” the complaint further added.

Subsequently, Bhati was arrested on March 14.

Saleem Sheikh, a local and witness in this case, told the court that on March 12, he had seen Bhati carrying something like a body in a bag.
“Neeraj Kumar was also with Ajay Bhati on a motorcycle. They dumped the bag somewhere and returned home. The body of the child was recovered later in the same bag,” he told police.

Panchu Sheikh, another witness, said, “There was a CCTV camera in our office. On March 12, Ajay Bhati and Neeraj visited our office, deleted the footage of their movement, and fled the spot.”

Dr Anil Yadav, who conducted an autopsy on the body, stated in his report that the child had injury marks on her private parts and that she was raped before she was suffocated to death.

However, Bhati told the court that he was framed in this case.

“I had two children: a son (9), and a daughter (6). My wife had adopted this child, and I was taking care of her, too. That day I had gone to my shop while the three children were coming from home to my shop, and the third child went missing. I had informed Saroj about this,” he said.

However, Tendra Pal, special judge, Pocso relied on the testimonies of the witnesses and medical evidence on Thursday and convicted Ajay Bhati and Neeraj Kumar.

“Ajay Bhati is sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and rigorous life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 under Section 5/6 of the Pocso Act. Neeraj Kumar is sentenced to four years of imprisonment and fined Rs 2,000 under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC,” the court said.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)